What Nobody Tells You About Finding Joy

Last week I sat down to write a blog post on something I had been thinking about recently. Joy. Specifically about Christians and their lack of it and how sad that was since we are supposed to be the most joyful people in the world. I’ve never attempted to publish anything anywhere before, but when I finished the article, it seemed like one that would fit at RELEVANT Magazine. So, I edited it and sent it over. The worst they could say, was ‘no’ right? Much to my surprise and delight, the next day they emailed me saying that they liked it and were going to publish it! Yesterday, my article published on RELEVANT Magazine, but I wanted to share it here as well. I hope you read it and feel encouraged.

I’ve been thinking about joy for quite some time now. Or rather, why we Christians display such a lack of it. If you go to any Christian news publication or blog post and read the comment section, you will instantly see what I mean.

Ugly bitterness, arrogance and hatred spewed across the lines of text. Sitting behind a keyboard gives a certain level of anonymity, and we’ve all made the mistake of doing or saying things we would never do or say in person. However, Jesus says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

Substitute “keyboard” for “mouth” and it’s pretty clear that Christians have some real ugliness hiding inside their hearts.

Christians, first and foremost, are broken and sinful humans, living in a broken and sinful world. We deal with the same hurts and brokenness as everyone else. The world is cold, dark, calculating and ruthless.

As Christians, we are not supposed to look the same as the world. We are called to be “in the world, but not of the world” several times. What should that look like? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The very things our world longs for.

If you, like the rest of us, struggle with reflecting joy to the world, here are some things to remember.